Eaten Alive
by Shihara-San Fukurou-Kun
Summary: This a SI OC reincarnation story. It's rated M for character death and dark themes. Even the the main character isn't safe from death. Oh, the poor, poor SI OC. It's not even a grantee if she'll live past her childhood. If she does she'll have a lot of scars, both physical and mental. The Strawhats are all featured wherever they are.
1. Chapter 1 - Eaten Alive

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.

I seriously don't know where this came from, but I cried all the same.

* * *

I died.

Despite the various means and varying reasons that people die in the end everyone ends up - a simple pile of bones.

People die and no matter how much one tries to forget it - death is something inevitable. For me death just meant that I ended up in something's stomach.

I was eaten alive. It was as simple as that.

Except - somehow - it wasn't all that simple since I'm once again alive and kicking.

I was eaten alive, but not by bears or wolves or even lions. In the end, it wasn't even by something that could even be considered natural or even sane.

Since I died during what many would consider a Zombie Apocalypse.

Ripped to shreds by the ones I had once held dear in life.

Or at least that's what I think happened, because unfortunately (or fortunately) the situation surrounding my death is a little bit blurry. The last thing I remember is being close to my family as the world went to hell.

I died - I can remember those bits and pieces. The taste of blood in my mouth... The crunch of bone and flesh. Of becoming cold. I don't want to ever feel that sensation again. It wasn't such a crazy leap in logic that I gained... a distaste of being eaten alive again.

I should be dead. People just don't get back up again after death - ah, the irony of the statement. Yet here I am, once again kicking it up. Though don't get me wrong now. I didn't rise up from the dead and I'm not living it up in an undead hoard.

Not that there was much of anything left to rise back up from the dead anyway - if I'm remembering it right.

So how is it that I'm once again among the living? Maybe it was all a dream?

Has my family history finally caught up with me after all these years of ignorance and denial?

Am I...? Is this truly- A trap, a construct of my own mind?

I badly want it to be a dream, but I'm loosing it. I'm living a loosing battle against a bleeding heart. When my own bleeding heart was literal - I liked that scenario much better.

I'm weak. I'm scared. I'm afraid. Of night time and nap times. Of finding soft skin too cold. Of bright futures suddenly non-existent, and a room devoid of something barely heard.

I think to myself that this is all a dream - a dream. A dream that's all too real. A dream that lives and breathes and cries. A lucid dream that just won't end. A horrible, horrible dream that giggles and gasps and holds on tight.

A dream made of a steady beat and baby breaths.

Oh god, why is this so real..

* * *

A little hand in an equally tiny one is all it takes.

* * *

I don't sleep. I can't sleep, and I know that it's taking a toll on me.

I live day by day. With casual looks and casual touches.

Finger tips and the tips of a nose.

Warm breath-

-as you sleep.

Head to chest.

It lifts-

-it rests.

It falls and rises.

A reassuring feeling-

-to see that you're still breathing.

* * *

...


	2. Chapter 2 - Skull Joke

Disclaimer: I do not own one piece.

 _SKULL JOKE_

* * *

Click. Click. Was the sound of his jaw bones moving for the first time since death and it was the first thing Brook heard after reviving.

Click. Click.

Ah, how the sound could send chills down one's spine.

Click. Click. It was barely audible, barely there, but Brook could hear it.

Click. Click.

* * *

A gentlemanly skeleton sat on a chair on the deck of a ghost ship dressed in some nice rags. The skeleton simply sat - minding his own business and drinking his drink. Suddenly skeleton turned his head to the side and asked asked:

"What was it that I was drinking again?"

A white little question mark could even be seen floating above his white skull.

The skeleton looked out to sea, and continued to sip his tea(?) again. Well, there was nothing to do, but to wait until he drifted out of the Florian Triangle and found somewhere suitable to fix the rudder.

For now he's fine with coasting on the waves. Worrying about it wouldn't get him any closer to Laboon.

* * *

 _"-the Rumbar Pirates!"_

 _"Ahahaha. Brook, you never told us that you had a little brother!"_

 _"Hmm? A baby whale?"_

 _"Let's play a song to cheer him up!"_

 _"Laboon!" "He followed us!" "Ahahaha! Maybe he thinks you're his parent, Brook~!"_

 _"We'll see you in a year or two! Laboon!"_

 _"Take off this mask!"_

 _"Stay alive! So that we can meet again one day..."_

 _"If we're going to die... we might as well enjoy it."_

 _"Yohohoh Yohohoho Yohoho-"_

 _"Quartet-Trio-Duet-Solo-!"_

* * *

The waters were calm, the weather was foggy, and the sky was once again gloomy.

Another day, another ghost ship had passed by. Still there were no men aboard. No food to be scavenged. Not one distraction from this litany.

The lone skeleton on deck went to the helm only to wildly spin it-!

Clack. Clack. Clack.

"Yohohoho-" Went a voice, so soft and gentle... That one had to strain to decipher its tone. Was it musical laughter? Or the sound of hysterical sobbing? The voice of someone screaming softly? Did it even matter anymore?

The only thing that mattered now, after everything said and done, was patience... Patience and a little bit of luck - maybe than would he meet them again. Out of this fog, and into the sun once more.

"Laboon, I want to see you again, and tell you of all our adventures. I want to see you, Laboon... I want to meet you again, Yorki- Captain Yorki... We promised...didn't we?...That we would all live so that we could meet once more. I promised.. I promised... We promised didn't we...? That we would live..."

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, Laboon! I'll see you again one day- So wait for me... At that lighthouse."

Waiting...waiting...waiting...waiting...

You're waiting for all of us, aren't you? But don't worry... I'll bring them to you- Their voices - our wishes. Our very last song-

 _Is waiting for you._

I want you to know that we died doing what we loved best- Singing to our hearts' content!

So wait for us... Wait for us...we're coming. Sorry... For the inconvenience. Its been... Decades, hasn't it? But that doesn't matter, right!?

Right now though... I can't do anything about it! So, instead I'm spinning the helm~ its something to do at the very least.

"Ah, not that it'll move the rudder! Yohohoho~!" _Its something to do._

Decades, it's been... But I'm sure you're still waiting for us. I wonder how big you've grown? I'm sure you're as big as a mountain now. As big as a mountain... Surely but still I don't doubt that you'll still look up to my afro when we meet. Even after all these years its still intact- Waiting to see you too.. _We're both waiting._

Ah, did you know? I can open up my skull like a treasure chest! "Yohohoho~!"

I'm sure it'll be a blast! When we meet again, it wont be scary at all! You'll be able to recognize me right? By my afro of course... Everything else may be nothing but bones, but you'll recognize me right? Even though I'm nothing but bones...I'm still me. I'm still Brook.

When we meet again... It'll be all a great big laugh! We'll laugh it off. We'll laugh the years away! As if it was all yesterday that we left you at the coast. I'm sure we'll both be very different from the last time. So different... but I'll still sing you a song and it'll be like the old days. So don't worry! I still remember you. Even if you wont recognize me right away~! I'd recognize you in a flash!

So don't worry.. I'll see you soon... one day soon.

When that day approaches I'll crack open my skull, and give you that tone dial~ And it'll be like the crew never left! We'll laugh it off-

Laboon.. I want to hear your laugh again...

The musical way you used to laugh- I couldn't hear it again in the end - but I want to meet you again.

* * *

"45 degrees! Yohoho~"

* * *

Brook winked the dust out of his eyes, at the very back of the deck- where the deck met the cabin- he sat down.

He sat there. He sat there, and daydreamed. He sat there and daydreamed the days away. He daydreamed about the good times in his life. About the happy, more recent years with his crew. The more recent...happy years...that took place decades ago.

He daydreamed because there was nothing else to do, but to daydream.

He just wished that they weren't so vivid. He almost wished that he was back in the early days of his revival, and he would fall asleep more often...

Now his daydreams... He wished they weren't so tangible. That he didn't daydream so often and so much that he even missed out on sleep. He needed sleep even though he was dead, and now it was like he was lucid dreaming while he was awake.

And now instead of nodding off to sleep, he would nod off and slip awake. He would wake to find his own memories working against him. This reminiscing about the past of his was a little too much at times, but at times he really didn't mind the company.

Still though he didn't mind that he rarely ever slept when he was in a daydreaming mood. It meant that he could see-

It meant that he could see his crew again. He knew- he knew that they weren't real. That they had died long ago~

But it was still nice to see them. Nice to just watch. Watch his crew have fun, interact with each other again, and live the again.

It was nice. It was fun, but he knew that their souls weren't really in it. After all he was once nothing at all but a soul floating in the distance. His soul had come here from the afterlife after all~!

"Yohohoho~!"

* * *

"45 degrees~!"

"Yohoho~!"

"Skull joke!"

* * *

Brook was starting to get antsy again. Doing nothing but sitting gets old fast-

I'm rolling. I'm rolling! I'm rolling on the deck! I'm rolling with the waves!

I don't care about what's been on the deck, I'm rolling all over it. I'm already dirty anyway- my soul that is. No, no. Its my mind that's dirty~!

"Ah, not that there's anything to be perverted about. Yohoho~"

Brook tried to think about perverted things, but it seemed that he just couldn't. It's been so long~

The only dirty thing that came out of his head was dust and cobwebs via every orifice on his skull. Charming he was sure. Which was dirty..just not in the way he had intended.

* * *

"45 degrees~!"

"Skull joke!"

* * *

My violin's still in good shape, right? The tone dial couldn't possibly break... right? It's been so long... Just one more time. I'll play it just one more time.

Click. The sound of a tone dial being pressed.

"Yohoho Yohohoho Yohohoho-"

* * *

A skeleton's head moved. It's chin slipped from its resting position, and it fell awake.

Has it already been another year? Time sure flies by fast when your always making jokes...

* * *

Click. Click. That was the sound of a slow burning insanity - on the back burners of a retachable skull.

 _Not that that was anything to be bothered about._

 _Skull Joke!_


	3. Chapter 3 - Baby Monkeys and an Old Dog

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

Monkey

It's been a year since... all of this happened. Somewhere along the line I realized that I was a Monkey.

Monkey D. Charley to be exact. Granddaughter to the great hero of the Marines, daughter to the most wanted man alive, and elder sister to Monkey D. Luffy - the man who will become the pirate king in the future - probably.

It's a crazy, small world, huh?

* * *

It was either that or Charley had the luck of the devil. Oh, the irony that could be found in that statement as she would later find out.

* * *

Charley was once again contemplating just how crazy her dysfunctional family was. Mainly the fact that their father left the both of them to the mercy of Garp. Sure, Dragon was a busy man what with being an infamous revolutionary. Plus there was the whole Most Wanted thing going on, but still couldn't he have left his only children somewhere more... safe?

And not with Garp - the man who lacked common sense - especially when it came to raising young children. It isn't much of a surprise that Luffy ended up the way he was in the show - the walking contradiction. It was either that or not surviving past childhood.

What does come as a surprise is the fact that Dragon knows who his father is.

Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if Dragon never even met Garp until wa~y into his adult life. Most likely the result of grandma, whoever she was, taking Dragon far, fa~r away to raise him

I've barely interacted with Jii-Chan a hand full of times in all of my total years of one and I can see it already - the accidental death of two children - by the very hands of their grandfather, the great Garp.

Intellectually I know that Luffy would live past the age of adolescence to become a teenage pirate that many would one day bet on. Even knowing that fact I... I just can't see those chances as being anything more than non-existent.

Well, Garp is the man who defied the impossible by doing the improbable. The man who denied common sense by having none, and who throws freaking canon balls with his bare hands and has it _work_. So it wouldn't be too much of a stretch if he could raise children and not have them die a horrible death, after all Garp isn't even a constant in our lives.

Actually that might be why Luffy survived his childhood despite the improbable odds against him...

It was either that or Dragon had a lot of siblings growing up, but Luffy didn't have any uncles or aunts - anywhere.

Speaking of Luffy- Where is he? I turn my back fo-

* * *

On one side of the glass is a baby with messy, black hair and a boyish face - on the other side is another baby that looked eerily like the other despite not really looking anything alike. No this was not a case of the trope of opposite gender identical twins. Instead this was a case of an uncanny family resemblance and irony, but that would be a story for the future.

Right now though the one named Charley wasn't exactly a mirror for her twin right at the moment for her eyes were practically jumping to get outside of their sockets while Luffy was happily chasing a butterfly.

All the while edging closer and closer towards a two-story drop.

It was a comical sight - the look on Charley's face - the one that was a reflection of abject horror. A look that screamed - how did he get to the other side of this window!?

Tiny hands banged on the window, as a yell didn't quite reach through the glass.

All the while baby Luffy giggled and laughed as he crawled after that sunny butterfly.

Just as baby Luffy was about to take that fateful last step off the roof's edge and towards an early death for our hero-

Charley, on accident, activated the window's unlocking mechanism which prompted the window to flip over - baby and all.

In the span of the second that took Luffy to put a hand out onto empty air - Charley tumbled head over heels - all the way across the roof essentially crashing into Luffy and sending the both of them over and-

* * *

Right into the arms of their savior.

* * *

Garp was looking for his grandchildren, and he believed the best way to go about this was to randomly shout their names in the hopes that they would answer back. Not that they knew how to talk yet, but it was the principle of the thing to call out people's names when you were looking for them.

Who knows? It just might work.

"Luffy! Hal! Where are you? Answer me if you can-!"

Garp was just about enter their home via new entrance on the side when something fell out of the sky. Instinctively Garp caught whatever it was.

"Oh, there you two are." Garp said when he saw what was in his arms. Absolutely unperturbed by the fact that his grandchildren quite literally fell from the sky and right into his arms.

He turned around so that his back was to the wall and sat down with his grandkids with a - Don. Ignoring Luffy who was trying to escape and Hal who was mumbling something about old dogs in heaven, Garp addressed his men.

"These cute kids are my grandchildren."

The Marines before him could do nothing but stare slack jawed at him.

The magnitude of their shock was so large that they couldn't even voice their thoughts out loud, though most of the thoughts went along the lines of.

Those are his grandchildren? They just fell off that roof! He has grandchildren? Who would've known? Flying babies!? I need to quit drinking so early in the day. There's something even more pressing to think about - he has children! Holy crap! You're right. I would have never guessed that! I wouldn't believe that if they hadn't just fell out of the sky! ... I really need to quit the Marines.

"Hey someone go into the mountains and catch some monsters."

"What!? Why?"

"I'm hungry."

"Catch your own food! Or better yet - come with us."

"Oh, okay."

He agreed! Everyone felt the need to suddenly fall onto the floor.

Garp stood up and headed to the mountain.

"Um, sir? Where are you going with your grandchildren?"

"Into the mountains."

Into the mountains? Everyone's head tilted to the left. Their heads tilted to the right. Into the mountains... with babies!?

A brave soul went up to Garp.

"Sir, how about you take half of us with you up the mountains while the rest of us stay here with your grandchildren and look after them for you. Sounds like a good idea, Sir?"

The Marine looked up at his hero-

He was picking his nose!

Its suffice to say that right there and then some eyeballs wanted to separate from their masters.

"But~ I want to bring them with me."

"What in the world for!?" Were the cries of many.

"Flight practice."

"...Flight practice?" Was the tentative reply.

"Earlier when I found their landing a little lacking, I decided that I should help them along by bringing them up the mountain and-"

Garp hefted his grandchildren up, one in each hand, and immediately the Marines were reminded of a picture of Garp and cannonballs.

The eyes have at them, and staged a rebellion.

"Sir! Please don't throw them off a mountain!"

"Your grandchildren aren't cannonballs!"

"Children aren't made for that!"

"Don't do it!"

A collective cry of sirs rang through the air as many of Garp's men bodily threw themselves at him. It looked like Garp was going to skip the up the mountain part and was contemplating the throwing part right then and there.

While the men hung helplessly from his arms, they yelled:

"Sir, please think it over!"

"Yeah, I think you should wait!"

Suddenly Garp stopped as if finally considering the wisdom of common sense for the first time.

"Wait?" Garp rounded on the man whose words he echoed.

Nervous under the stare of his hero, The Garp, the young man was suddenly unsure of himself.

"Wait... Maybe a good time would be... maybe it would be wise to wait until they know how to walk?" _Before they lose their ability to do so. God, I'm so morbid._ "And talking! When they know how to talk and walk is sure to be a good period in their lifetime for... flight practice." _Maybe by then he'll forget about it?_

Garp _loomed_ as the young marine put his thoughts into words. As he hoped and prayed that he wasn't going to get the capital punishment - he also thought that at least it was by the Hero of the Marines that did it.

"Wahahaha. That is a good idea."

Runny noses were suddenly popular.

Garp pushed the two kids into the young man's arms, turned on his heel and walked away. It took a moment for it to register but than his men split in half and went with him.

The young man mutely noted that one of very young children grabbed onto him with something akin to a death grip and the other one was... sleeping?

The young Marine could do nothing but look up at the sky as if to implore the heavens, and have such thoughts about the day being quite a beautiful but crazy one.

 _Maybe he should quit the Marines?_

* * *

"Didn't someone see a village around here? Why are we even going into the mountains?"

"Bwahahaha. I forgot about the village. Let's go men, to Partys Bar!"

* * *

I can't believe what I'm seeing.

I've been staring contently at a piece of meat on a bone. Or to be more exact I'm staring at the one eating said piece of meat.

It was only a few months ago that we were still teething. I know that I don't have enough teeth to eat that... delicious smelling meat, and that's why I'm stuck gnawing on the peel of this avocado. Trying and failing to get at its fleshy innards. I don't even like avocados.

I also know for a fact that Luffy doesn't have any teeth yet either. But still here I am sitting here watching Luffy as he bit into his meat like it's a fruit.

So here I am sitting here gumming this avocado to death while everyone else was having a good old time and eating meat. I want to cry. Oh, wait I'm a baby so I should cry.

"Wah!" I want to grow teeth already.

"Ah!" One of the Marines just took my avocado. I want it back... Despite all my complaining I'm still hungry. Give back my avocado, you jerk.

The jerk even had the nerve to cut up the avocado and take out the seed in front of me. You have teeth! Why don't you eat something else and not steal from one year old babies?

Oh! He just gave back the two halves of the avocado to me. He's- He's actually a nice guy - isn't he? I'm just so happy that I could cry! I even tear up a little bit at the thought.

:|

Well that was weird. Curse you, baby hormones.

Nom. Nom. ⌒.⌒

What was I thinking about again? Seagulls?

Ooh, a butterfly.

Nom. Nom. Avocados? Nom. Dragonflies... Ooh, another butterfly.

Nom. Nom... and I'm out of avocado.

"Luffy-Chan, Hal-Chan... Guess what Jii-chan has~~~ ."

Did he just pull something from out of his pants? =.=

"Its senbei! Usually Jii-Chan doesn't share his secret stash with anyone but since you guys are so cute~~~."

Garp gave Luffy a senbei which he happily munches on.

Charley sits there and simply watches Luffy eat with a sour look on her face.

Jii-Chan tries to give me a senbei, but it doesn't work. I just sit there and give him a look. A look where I'm trying to convey my feelings of being grossed out to him, but it seems that the message is lost by the dumb look on his face.

Garp suddenly has a look of inspiration on his face since it looks like his brain suddenly farted, and he says this next.

"Oh, I know. Hal-Chan~~~ look at what I have~~." He pulls another box from out of his pants. "Donuts~~ ."

Hal squints at the shady old man in front of her - clearly put out, but still she takes it. Ever so slowly she takes the donut from him as if to say that 'I don't want to but I'm going to take one anyway.'

She takes a few bites out of it before she takes the half eaten donut and uses it to point at the crowd, waving it back and forth.

As if she was trying to threaten crowd of grown men and say, "None of you saw that." Still squinting she chews and eats the last of the donut, quite happily despite the squinted eyes.

The Marine who notices this just makes a face and thinks to himself.

 _I wonder if early retirement is an option?_


	4. Chapter 4 - Liar Norland

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

Spoilers ahead. If you are not up to date on the manga than this doesn't have as much meaning as intended.

This is speculation on my part and part head-canon since even if Sanji's past is revealed it probably wont be all that detailed.

* * *

A little blond boy was warm under his covers. Eyes wide with boyish excitement and innocence as he snuggled into his bed and waited for the bedtime story to begin.

Sitting by the bedside, obscured by shadows was the narrator - someone the boy knew very well.

"Liar Norland," the Narrator began.

The little's boys eyes shone at the title of his favorite fairy-tale.

A story from over four hundred years ago...

In a certain country in the northern seas,

there was a man named Montblanc Norland.

Norland the Explorer's stories were always grand adventures that sounded like lies.

But the people of the village could never tell if they were true or not.

One time, Norland went on an expedition,

and came back to report to the king.

"I saw a mountain of gold on an island across the great seas."

To see for himself, the brave king took _two thousand warriors_

and crossed the great seas in his ship.

He fought powerful storms and huge sea monsters.

Finally, the king, Norland, and _one hundred soldiers_ landed on the island.

But what they found there was _nothing_ but jungle.

Norland was _sentenced to death for_ his _lies_.

These were his last words.

 _"That's it! The mountain of gold sank into the ocean!"_ The king and the others were shocked.

 _Nobody believed Norland anymore, but he never stopped lying until he was dead_.

"So Sanji," the Narrator said in hushed tones. "- what did you learn today?"

The boy, now dubbed Sanji, smiled his cutest smile yet as he cheerfully chirped out his well-thought out answers.

"Today I learned that one should always be prepared! Plan ahead for unforeseen liabilities! Think of the consequences!" Here Sanji paused trying to glean a little bit more from the lessons that he learned about that day.

"Um- Also, know what one can and cannot do!"

"Very good, Sanji. And what did the storybook tell us?"

Sanji's eyes were big and round. _He definitely knew the correct answer to this one!_

"That here in the North Blue - even liars get executed!"

The Narrator chuckled. "Correct, Sanji, you are such a good boy. How about next time we read on exactly how snitches get their stitches?"

Sanji pouted. He hadn't read about _that_ particular subject yet.


	5. Chapter 5 - Somewhere Close to the Heart

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, if I did I would have thrown a hissy fit when Usopp's flash back about his mother was shortened.

* * *

Somewhere Close to the Heart

On a small back water island in East Blue - in a small community wise village.

There lived in a modest little home - a family of three.

"You wouldn't believe what I have to tell you-" A man with black hair exclaimed as he flipped through the pages of his ship's log book.

The sound of a baby sound asleep could be heard.

A woman with wavy, dark hair and a long nose fondly looked on as her husband tucked their son in his cradle.

"You know that he wont remember when he's older right?"

"Its fine, isn't it? The principle of the thing, and all. Who knows... maybe he will remember. In a way - probably."

The woman couldn't help but laugh at her husband's reasoning.

To her husband - it sounded like magic.

He swooped her up in his arms and held her tight - she gave him a peck on the cheek in retaliation.

The painted image of a couple in love - like the painted lady.

"Do you have to leave again?"

"You know that it's my dream - to be a brave warrior of the sea. You know that I will."

"Following your dreams, I can't say anything to that. After all I've already accomplished mine."

Her husband didn't open his mouth. If he did - he was likely to catch his foot with it.

The two were still in each other's arms, but the woman turned her head away so that her husband couldn't see her face.

"Do you think our son will become a brave warrior of the sea?" Her face softened - full of love and sadness.

"I'm sure he will."

His wife turned to face him.

"I see," was her gentle answer. She smiled, and he thought it was the most beautiful thing but for some reason his heart fell. His horrible feeling was right, because she pulled away from his embrace.

She took a step and another, but she didn't run away from him. Instead she twirled on nimble feet to face him - her arms behind her back. She looked like that girl he first met years ago before they settled and married. She once again smiled-

And it melted his heart. He couldn't tell if it was heat or warmth or acid that did it, but he suddenly wanted to forget all of his dreams and stay with-

"Hmmm. Then it's decided than. I have a new dream."

The man was suddenly unsure, and his voice was coarse when he answered his wife. "What is it?"

"My dream is to see our son grow up to become a brave warrior of the sea!" His wife laughed and he thought that it was the most free and unabashed sound in all of the seas.

He could do nothing more than say her name, "Banchina."


	6. Chapter 6 - Life Worth Livin'

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece! If I did Franky and Robin would come out of the closet and loudly proclaim that they're in a relationship.

* * *

Life Worth Livin'

 _'It's fine like this...'_

 _I lived as I pleased, but I found a dream and accomplished it. I became a kick-ass marine and kicked pirate ass. I don't have anymore complaints in life._

 _I let my eyes close, fully expecting to never open them again._

 _In a battlefield a person without the will to live, won't._

 _I might have been faint, I might have lost too much blood. My eye sight was failing me, but strangely enough what I heard next was clear. It was pristine._

 _The town was on fire. The dead, both marine and pirate, lined the streets. Explosions had rocked the buildings and flames still raged as the city crumbled. What I heard next was so out of place, so unexpected that I opened what I thought was better left closed._

 _The sound of a child laughing - never have I been so glad to hear something so simple._

 _When I turned my head - what I saw - gave me that will to live. I got up. I got up because I had to get them to safety. I had to keep them safe. They were the reason worth fighting for._

 _Innocents._

 _The sound was carefree - the giggles of a baby - so free, but the first thing I saw wasn't someone free._

 _The first thing I saw was a little soldier with blue hair._

 _She wasn't crying for something lost, and she wasn't claiming revenge on the world. She wasn't blaming the little baby in her arms, nor did she lay there screaming at the world._

 _She wasn't concerned with hushing the baby in her arms. She was concerned with nothing else, but putting one leg forward at a time. She wasn't even afraid that they could be heard, because there was no one to hear._

 _Her face was impassive and her wandering aimless - she kept on marching. Her eyes - what haven't they seen?_

 _I stopped in front of them, and immediately I notice a change in the girl. Recognizing that I was a marine her shoulders slumped in relief, as if a heavy weight had just been lifted, because... Because a heavy weight had been lifted. For someone so young, to be responsible for another's life - on this battlefield._

 _The blue haired girl stops for me but she doesn't relax completely - doesn't give into hope. I tried to look reassuring, but I wasn't exactly looking that hot. I was bloody, I was battered, and I was even limping heavily, but I was a Marine._

 _So I smiled and although it was thin - I tried to look like hope._

 _I opened my mouth to say something, anything, to make her stop looking like that, like she was forcing herself to repress her own emotions._

 _"Is that your sister?"_

 _When she shakes her head and tells me that they're strangers... Something inside of me aches for her. I can't believe it, me? Feeling motherly?_

 _The baby - barely a year old - when she notices me, brightens. She-_

 _"She's smiling-"_

 _I could feel myself tearing up, but for some reason I wanted to laugh._

 _"She doesn't know the slightest thing about what's going on..."_

 _It was so absurd that the blue haired little girl and I - we started laughing._

Surely it's a miracle?

 _It's a miracle that these two survived. A miracle that I was alive when they came_.

No, I lived... so I could be here (there) for these two.

 _We laughed so hard that tears started to stream down our faces._

 _The baby with the orange hair, her smile, was like a dam breaking._

~/~\~

 _"Look! It is Bellmere!"_

 _(I don't care...)_

 _"She has children with her! Whose kids are those!?"_

 _("I don't care what anyone has to say...)_

 _"Call the doctor! They've got terrible fevers!"_

 _(As long as they're alive...)_

 _"They've been terribly exhausted by the storm!"_

 _(Life is worth living.)_

 _"Alright, I'll treat them right away! But you've got serious wounds yourse-"_

(Was I worthy? Was my life worth it? I used to ask myself that before I decided to become a marine.)

 _"Enough about me and just go! Don't let those kids die!"_

(I found it... The answer to my questions.)

 _"Please save them no matter what!"_

 _(I found it!)_

* * *

AN: Writing this chapter I've come to realize that Ace and Bellmere are very similar. They were both orphans that acted out, because they couldn't find a reason for their lives. Just think.. if Ace was Ann and became a marine like Garp wanted...

I can see it.

Luffy was Ace's Nojiko and Nami, just think about it.


End file.
